A new Gallup poll shows that the National Rifle Association, the target of a wave of intensely negative news coverage after the Newtown, Connecticut school shootings, still has a favorable rating of 54 percent. While down from the organization’s 60 percent favorable rating in 2005, that is still about a point higher than President Obama’s personal favorable rating.

A Huffington Post average of the president’s favorable ratings places it at 52.3 percent. That average includes favorable ratings of 49 percent in a December 16 CBS News poll, 53 percent in a December 9 Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, and 56 percent in a November 18 CNN poll.

On the NRA, Gallup found that 83 percent of Republicans give the nation’s largest pro-gun organization a favorable rating. Fifty-four percent of independents view the NRA favorably, and 36 percent of Democrats do so.